Firefox Sync 1.3b5 (formerly known as “Weave 1.3b5”) has been baking out in the experimental build world for awhile, and a lot of great progress has been done. For those that were early weave adopters, you’ll find a lot has changed everywhere, from the server to the client.
Some of these changes include:
- Rebranded as Firefox Sync
- New facelift to the weave client UI
- Improved response time with sync
- Bookmark backup before initial sync
- New production server clusters built to handle larger loads
- Support on Fennec devices
- Many others. See release notes
Firefox Sync 1.3 Final is going to be highly publicized and encouraged for daily usage. We’re hoping to release this month, but there’s still a lot of testing of the client and server that we could use feedback on. If you’re interested, here are quick ways you can get involved:
- Download the latest Firefox Sync here. Click “Experimental Version” in the green bar
- Create and sync your bookmarks, history, passwords, tabs, and preferences. You can follow a more complete testplan here.
- Report bugs through the weave forum or through Bugzilla.
- Finally, follow us in irc.mozilla.org, #labs for conversation and questions!
As always, contact me: tchung@mozilla.com,, if you would like to get involved with Mozilla Products Testing and Firefox Sync!
Dknite's Lair 
May 19, 2010 at 9:59 pm
[…] Mozilla Weave is going to be rebranded as Firefox Sync. Firefox developer dknite has listed the upcoming changes in the next update of Mozilla Weave. Here are some important changes:Rebranded […]
May 19, 2010 at 10:15 pm
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Planet Mozilla, Planet Repeater. Planet Repeater said: Tony Chung: Firefox Sync 1.3 is coming! http://dlvr.it/150SL […]
May 19, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Does it use the newly landed Add-ons API?
May 19, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Does this also sync extensions and Firefox preferences (like about:config strings and such)?
May 19, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Are you aware that the Google ad below your post urges visitors to download IE 8?
May 19, 2010 at 11:19 pm
@Fritz: at the moment no. Sync 1.3 is still an extension, but there are future plans to integrate Sync 2.0 into Firefox 4.0. There will be updates to it then that will take advantage of the new addons manager API.
@Tiago: extensions and about: is not supported yet in this version. There are a few selected preferences that do sync though. You can find that full list at: http://mxr.mozilla.org/labs-central/source/weave/source/defaults/preferences/sync.js.in#34
@Kadir: oh does it? haha, amusing. folks can do what they like, but lets let the product speak for itself.
May 19, 2010 at 11:34 pm
I’m very interested in trying the new version out. I’ve been using Weave for awhile now, I cannot use the web without it.
At the moment I like how unobtrusive the UI is but I can see that for newer or non-technical users you’d been a better GUI.
I’m most excited about Account Manager though. Is this always intended to be separate or integrated back into Sync?
Thanks.
May 19, 2010 at 11:58 pm
there’s still a bunch of polish work coming for Sync 1.3, but its close to final. Feel free to give it a try, and we really look forward to your feedback!
Account Manager (will blog more details on this later) will initially be a standalone feature for managing your already stored local passwords. It will not rely on Sync to work, but it will certainly be compatible with it. But Yes, the plan is to use Sync in conjunction with Account Manager to coordinate your one stop logins across all your xul-supported browsers. This will include Fennec if you have a supported device like Android and Maemo.
May 20, 2010 at 12:18 am
I’m a bit unhappy with the rebranding, as 1) I don’t understand why we’re diluting the Firefox brand recently with naming things that aren’t the web browser product by using the brand, and 2) it denies that other applications can use that Sync solution (no matter if it’s an add-on or built in in the future).
Still, I think Sync is one of the best project in Mozilla and I hope it will be extended with a lot more functionality, including Thunderbird and SeaMonkey mail support!
May 20, 2010 at 7:14 am
Hi!
Given that Weave Sync works perfectly fine in SeaMonkey and Thunderbird, are you going to release re-branded versions of “SeaMonkey Sync” and “Thunderbird Sync” as well?
Phil
May 20, 2010 at 11:43 am
[…] is Firefox is SeaMonkey is Confusing Me The recent news that Weave Sync is being rebranded suddenly made me being a GSoC mentor for Firefox Sync. Now, I'm not at all unhappy with doing work […]
May 20, 2010 at 1:58 pm
I was also going to comment on the rebrand, but Robert has beaten me to saying it…
I’m not sure where you can go with “Firefox Sync” – it seems to be a step only towards losing the brand. It seems to imply it can only ever be a part of Firefox, but in fact it’s likely to end up in other Mozilla stuff, so they will each need their own name, with “sync” being the common part. I guess the logical conclusion is that it will just become the “sync” function in Firefox, like Google sync, iTunes sync, Ford sync and whatever else. But then there is nothing to distinguish Weave from other syncing stuff that’s not based on the same code. I don’t know if that matters, really…
May 20, 2010 at 4:41 pm
I am not clearly the expert in the rebranding decision, but i can tell you the following:
* Firefox is the focal brand that Mozilla Corp is working with. Sync’s greater plans is to get it fully integrated with firefox 4.0, and be a transparent feature. So it won’t be an extension forever.
* the brand isnt hardcoded, so anyone can repackage the xpi and rename it to Sync as desired
* There will be a press announcement coming out shortly after Sync 1.3 final is shipped. As i understand it, it should clarify the name change.
May 20, 2010 at 5:22 pm
[…] https://dknite.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/firefox-sync-1-3-is-coming/ […]
May 20, 2010 at 5:25 pm
[…] mehr über Firefox Sync erfahren möchte, der sollte einen Blick ins Entwicklerblog werfen und sich die experimentelle Version besorgen (im grünen Balken “Experimental […]
May 20, 2010 at 6:02 pm
[…] looks as though Mozilla has decided it’s time to clarify what Weave does, and to that end they’re changing its name. Version 1.3b5 and forward will be known as […]
May 20, 2010 at 6:06 pm
[…] and tidying up the user interface — though those improvements are important. It looks as though Mozilla has decided it's time to clarify what Weave does, and to that end they're changing its name. Version 1.3b5 and forward will be known as Firefox […]
May 20, 2010 at 7:47 pm
[…] Firefox Sync 1.3 is coming! « Dknite's Lair […]
May 20, 2010 at 8:09 pm
[…] developer Tony Chung announced the name change and the release of Firefox Sync version 1.3 (still in beta) on his […]
May 21, 2010 at 1:09 am
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May 27, 2010 at 6:51 am
nice article/post …
very informatif …
June 27, 2011 at 1:26 pm
I went to using google Chrome for a while, but reverted back to firefox. I think chrome has potential, but for now the bugs are too much!